Jeff Bezos’ changing of the guard continues Blue origin Senior Vice President Stephen Bennett resigned, and he led the team behind the company’s new Shepard suborbital spacecraft.
Bennett will become Toronto headquarters Kepler Communications Chief Operating Officer Kepler said in a press release on September 20.
Linda Mills, Blue Origin’s vice president of communications, told GeekWire in an email that Bennett’s deputy, Phil Joyce, “Be promoted and lead the New Shepard team through a seamless transition plan.”
Kepler is launching ether, A connection service for low earth orbit (LEO) space assets. The ether system will pass flight verification early next year.
“The opportunity to join Kepler at this stage of their journey speaks to me on multiple levels,” Bennett said in a press release. “The goal of providing a LEO network that can be connected to other orbital missions in real time is a bold goal, but the team has proven that they are achieving this goal.”

Kepler Communications, who graduated from Techstars Seattle Startup Incubator in 2016, has already 15 satellites into orbit Used in different types of networks, aimed at facilitating the data flow of smart devices on the planet. The company has been working with Kymeta in Redmond, Washington to demonstrate high-speed connectivity in Arctic conditions.
Before joining Blue Origin in 2020, Bennett Served as senior management positions in a number of aerospace companies, Including L3Harris, BAE Systems and Raytheon. Joyce. For his part, he has extensive aerospace experience in Northrop Grumman, Orbital ATK and Orbital Sciences Corp.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard program marked a milestone in July when its first manned suborbital space flight sent Bezos and three crew members out of the 100-kilometer space boundary and returned. After that, Bezos said that Blue Origin has accumulated nearly $100 million in private sales for future new Shepard flights.
The transformation of New Shepard’s planned operations and the attractiveness of new challenges elsewhere are not the only factors behind Blue Origin’s recent series of departures. Other changes and Blue Origin’s failure to win a multi-billion-dollar lunar lander contract from NASA and The company’s BE-4 rocket engine And orbital-class New Glenn rockets.